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04 October 2016

Brad Does Cinema

Over the last several years, I've taken up a few film projects. I tend to have a lot of available screen time, riding my bike on an indoor trainer in my living room during the academic year, as I find it increasingly difficult to carve out the time to get outdoors to ride. My first project was to watch all of AFI's 100 Greatest American Films. (There are actually two lists, which amount to 123 films in total.) I completed that goal on 14 November 2013. My second, and somewhat concurrent, project was to watch all of the Academy Award for Best Picture winners. (There are 88 winners and counting.) I completed that goal on 12 January 2014. My third project was to watch a selection of films from three of the most celebrated foreign[1] directors, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. I drew my sample from those films of these directors listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Today, 4 October 2016, I completed that goal as well. Here are those films:

Kurosawa
Rashomon
To Live (Ikiru)
The Seven Samurai (Shichinin No Samurai)
Throne of Blood (Kumonosu Jo)
Dersu Uzala
Ran

Bergman
Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens Leende)
The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet)
Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället)
Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom I En Spegel)
Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna)
Persona
Shame (Skammen)
Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen)
Cries and Whispers (Viskingar Och Rop)
Fanny and Alexander (Fanny Och Alexander)

Fellini
The Road (La Strada)
The Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria)
Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli Spiriti)
La Dolce Vita
8 ½
Satyricon
Amarcord

My general assessment is that Kurosawa is a genius, Bergman is a visionary, and Fellini is a misogynist. If I were to recommend just a single film from each director, they would be, respectively, To Live (Ikiru), Fanny and Alexander (Fanny Och Alexander), and Satyricon.

My current endeavor is just to catch up on several random movies that I have wanted to see but that didn't make it on to any of my three previous lists.

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[1] This is, of course, a very ethnocentric, and thus problematic, designation.

1 comment:

  1. Impressive. Now start binge-watching "Gilmore Girls." The new 4 part special comes out in November!!!!

    ReplyDelete